ITV group legal director and company secretary Andrew Garard has stepped down from his role after more than 10 years. Garard, who joined the broadcaster in 2007, will relinquish his role on 31 July, but will continue to provide assistance to the board of ITV while a successor is found. He joined ITV as group legal director and general counsel, and became company secretary in 2009. Garard also sits on the board of ITN plc, having chaired the news and multimedia content company up until 2016. His role at the TV company includes managing legal and business affairs, acting as group secretariat, and advising on rights management, information security, corporate responsibility, business continuity, risk management, insurance and health & safety. Prior to joining ITV, he was a corporate partner at US law firm LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae for almost two years; GC and company secretary of Cable & Wireless for nearly three years; and global head of legal at Reuters for five years, while he began his career as an associate at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London and Hong Kong. Garard said: “After 11 years, and working with my fourth chief executive, it is now the right time for me to move on. I leave behind a wonderful, dynamic team that I know will continue to be at the heart of ITV’s business. I wish all at ITV the very best for the next stage of the company’s growth.” During his time at ITV, Garard has helped to shake up how the broadcaster manages both its diversity programme and its wider corporate social responsibility offering, including taking a lead role with director of legal affairs Barry Matthews on the launch of the Legal Social Mobility Partnership, a joint in-house and private practice work placement scheme. ITV chairman Peter Bazalgette added: “We will very much miss his wise counsel and I personally will miss the sage advice he provided as company secretary. I completely understand Andrew's desire to spread his wings and look outside ITV for his next challenge.” Photo credit: James West

• Andrew Garard is among a line-up of senior in-house lawyers speaking at Corporate Counsel Forum Europe 2018 this September. The event will cover subjects including crisis management, diversity and data privacy - click here for more information.